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Friday, April 27, 2007

The Thrill of the Chase

Writing is such a thrill isn’t it? It’s full of highs and lows, thrills and disappointments, agony and ecstasy. In a moment, our hopes and dreams become devastation and nightmares before turning once again to joy and exhilaration.

Ever since my first book of meditations, Prayer Companion, was published by Anglican Book Centre in 2001, I have pursued my dream of another such book on the shelves. That was six years ago and God has been leading me ever since towards the goal of Glorious Autumn Days: Meditations for the Wisdom Years.

Not only has God led me to this goal, He has taught me many new things along the way. The manuscript that I began in 2001 had only the bare bones of the book that was just published in March, 2007. It evolved, through daily living and spiritual growth, into the place where it can now help others to come more fully into a relationship with God.

It is true that I had hoped to be published once again by an established publisher but I got tired of waiting. Though I had always said that I would never self-publish, never is a long time. After being rejected by my third publisher in December, 2006 and being told, as if by a miracle, of a print-on-demand publisher on the internet a couple of weeks before that, I decided to put my faith in God and just do it.

I researched www.lulu.com to the best of my ability and it seemed to be a legitimate company and one that I could work with. However, I decided to publish a small poetry book as a test run to see how it worked and if I could master the technology that was needed to make a professional looking final product. The poetry book, a second edition of Grapes from the Vine, was quite satisfactory but I realised that my meditation book would benefit from a better formatting job.

I searched for and found a book formatting wizard that I could download for a price and though it meant that I would have to also buy a more advanced Microsoft Word program than the one I had on my computer, I felt it would be worth it as I would then have it for any future publishing ventures.

I now have my beautiful meditation book, Glorious Autumn Days, in hand. And with the assistance of Carmen Leal’s book, You Can Market Your Book, I am progressing at a slow and steady pace, learning as I go, to market my book to others.

My website, www.judithlawrence.ca is up and running; at N.J. Lindquist’s invitation, I write a regular blog here; I am putting myself in the way of media interviews and local speaking engagements and, all in all, I am very excited about the way God is leading me.

I have also assisted two other people to publish their books on www.lulu.com and I know that I will be publishing more of my own work in this way. All glory be to God for His enabling power and joy.